Supporting the troops is a nice mantra in Washington. But this past week has proved it’s all bunk.
Our View: Demonizing the Bergdahls
June 08, 2014 2:00 am Times-News Editorial Board
The rush was on to blast the White House last week and congressional Republicans couldnt care less who got hurt. But the fact that Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl and his parents, Bob and Jani, were the collateral damage in the GOPs ruthless campaign to lampoon President Obama is vile.
For five years, lawmakers on the Hill blasted the Obama administration over the Hailey natives continued Taliban confinement. It only took a few hours following his release last Saturday before Fox News talking heads had Bergdahl labeled a traitor or even a collaborator. Some literally called for blood.
Meanwhile, Republican powerhouses, such as Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham, were lambasting the administration for swapping five Guantanamo Bay prisoners for Bergdahl. The five are the Taliban Dream Team, Graham said. McCain, only a few months before Bergdahls release, told CNN he would support a swap much like the one that got the only American prisoner of war out of captivity. His pivot, and the rest of his partys, is about attacking the president. Bergdahls be damned. Theyre expendable, says the national Republican machine.
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Bergdahls parents, too, are nothing but fodder for the 24-hour noise machine. Bob Bergdahls beard is too long, apparently, and his Twitter too ethnic. The Bergdahls dont pass the litmus test for true Americanism, say the screechers. Sure, they havent suffered enough. Lets torture them a little more. Hailey cant even hold a celebration for Bergdahls release. The enraged zealots were going to crash the party.
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